Receive the latest national-international updates in your inbox

Thanksgiving holiday shoppers wait in a check out line at the JCPenny store in Glendale, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017. As the holiday shopping season officially kicked off, retailers are counting on a lift from a better economy.

Led by a rise in business investment, the U.S. economy grew at an annual pace of 3.3 percent from July through September, its fastest rate in three years.

The Commerce Department estimated Wednesday that third-quarter growth exceeded the 3 percent annual expansion it had initially reported last month.

The performance, achieved despite damage from two devastating hurricanes, marked the fastest expansion in gross domestic product — the broadest gauge of economic output — since a 5.2 percent annual spurt in the third quarter of 2014.

The estimated growth for the July-September quarter marked an improvement on 3.1 annual growth in the second quarter and a 1.2 annual pace in the January-March quarter.

Parkland Shooting Survivor Calls 'BS' on Politicians' Gun Stance

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High senior Emma Gonzalez had a message for president Donald Trump and for other politicians on their failure to enact sensible gun laws: "BS." Gonzalez was one of several survivors to speak at a rally held outside the Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to speak out against the gun lobby.

(Published Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018)

Before the revised third-quarter numbers came out, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta was forecasting that growth would rise to a 3.4 percent annual pace in the final three months of 2017, which could bring growth for the year close to 2.8 percent. In 2016, the economy grew just 1.5 percent.

The economy showed resilience last quarter in the face of two hurricanes: Harvey, which hit Texas in late August, and Irma, which battered Florida in September.

The U.S. economy is benefiting from a pickup in global growth, a healthy job market that supports consumer spending and a drop in the value of the dollar against other major currencies, which makes U.S. products less expensive in foreign markets.